Amid thin capital flows, the rupee closed 10 paise weaker at 61.90 against the dollar on the first day of the calendar year 2014. The domestic unit opened for trading a tad weaker at 61.83 per dollar against the previous closing of 61.80 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market. During the day, the unit moved in the 61.82-61.97 per dollar range.
“There isn’t much movement in the rupee due to lower trade volumes. Good dollar demand from banks and importers mainly affected the rupee value against the greenback,” said a forex dealer.
In addition, what weighed on the rupee was that the core growth rate for the month of November was only 1.7 per cent against 5.84 per cent a year ago.
BSE-benchmark Sensex also ended weaker by 30.20 points (0.14 per cent) at 21,140.48 points due to less investor participation.
In 2013, the rupee closed 11 per cent weaker against the dollar. It was Asia’s third worst performing currency after Indonesian rupiah and Japanese yen.
Bonds prices, call rates weaken
Yield on benchmark government security 8.83 per cent (maturing in 2023) hardened to 8.84 per cent from previous close of 8.82 per cent on Tuesday. The price of the security ended weaker at Rs 99.89 from Rs 100.05.
Call rates ended lower at 7.57 per cent from Tuesday’s close of 8.85 per cent.
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